The Hand That Holds The Hammer
by Jimmy1201
Summary: Chapter 4: Kim has a long girl talk with the goddess of War, Sensual Love, and Fertility after being injured in defense of that goddess's home and land. While healing (again!) she has dreams that will affect her plans for the immediate future that she made during that talk.
1. Going to Serenity

_**The Hammer Waits**_

_**Its handle stuck out of the snow, abandoned. It waited for someone worthy to grasp it and use it. For Justice. To Defend. Never for Vengeance. It once had a Master, but they had made a mistake and left it behind until they could prove themselves worthy again. To abandon one's path because of a mistake was foolish. It would wait for its former Master to pull their head out of their nether regions or perhaps another worthy soul would wander by. It was patience itself. It was Mjöllnir.**_

This story is a continuation of _**Graduation in Early Mayhem**_ that only tells of Kim Possible's main adventure as mentioned in _**A Postgraduate Sitch**_.

That is, the plot lines containing Ron's adventures in college with his sorority sisters, Drakken and Shego, The Lowardian Empire, etc., have been removed. I mean really, the plot bunnies were allowed to run rampant.

I reduced the rating to T from M. (No Ron refereeing the Naked Pillow Fight of Honor in his sorority, for example)

The ending is being rewritten to demote Kim from the status of a Disney Princess. You have heard the test of "Do people assume that all your problems got solved because a big strong man showed up?" Well, in the original, Kim was "rescued" by Ron/Zorpox, Jessica, another of Ron's sorority sisters, three of the Lowardian Empire's most elite troopers, Drakken, Shego, and a lawyer. Sort of overkill. The new ending will pare that number way down.

All you need to know from _**Graduation in Early Mayhem**_ is:

* Kim Possible is the **Chosen One**. (along with her half-sister Joss who currently has the Lotus Blade in her possession. Half-sister as Ann donated an egg to Slim's wife.)  
* Ron Stoppable is the **Mystical Monkey Master**.  
* Kim and Ron are taking a year mostly apart to let Ron get settled into college to prove himself academically and to allow Kim 'find herself' and travel a bit before rejoining Ron.  
* Rufus is in England helping his grandchildren establish a new nest. (Grandchildren courtesy of DNAmy who created a stable, adorable species of "Naked Mole Bats" from his DNA)  
* If you ask 'Who is directly responsible for Warhok's bloody and violent death,' both Kim and Ron will say "I am and I didn't just kill him, I executed him."

* * *

Kim had lost contact with Wade a couple of hours ago. Wade warned her it would happen as communication coverage by low orbiting satellites that her dad and others were putting up to replace the ones destroyed by the Lowardian raiders didn't have global coverage. The loss of contact wasn't a concern, but a blessing. She wanted some time alone, time to come to terms with killing Warhok. She told herself that the world could manage just fine with Ron and the others to watch it until she got back. If she got in a bind, well, she would find out if she really was "all that" or not. Seriously, with Hirotaka and an entire monastery full of friendly Shaolin monks around, what could go wrong?

The door to the cockpit opened, a crewman entered the cargo area and opened the side door. He smiled and held up two fingers. Kim struggled a bit but got in the doorway. Reaching into her extra cargo bag, she pulled out a package, handed it to the crewman and bowed politely. The man grinned broadly, returned the bow then pointed out the door and slapped her on the shoulder.

Kim rolled out the door. The parachute was the standard military RA-1 steerable chute she expected to be using in upcoming training. She was a little concerned that she wasn't heavy enough for it to work correctly. Thus, the extra cargo bag stuffed with twenty-five (now twenty-four) pounds of amazingly delicious dark chocolate. She pulled early and was rewarded by the solid jerk of a perfect chute opening. She lowered her cargo bag and mission backpack on a shock cord to reduce the weight her knees would have to take on landing, then started trying out the maneuverability of her setup.

Hirotaka and Master Po stood outside the monastery gates watching a happy Kim Possible cut curves and circles in the evening sky. Master Po looked as serene and joyful as always, although his mirrored aviator shades detracted a bit from his traditional Shaolin Master look. Last month he and Hirotaka had debated long into the night about whether vision was a distraction from truth or an additional way to observe beauty and goodness in the world. The next day, Master Po, accompanied by Hirotaka went into a large neighboring city for cataract surgery.

"Aren't Kim's curves lovely to watch, Master Po?" Hirotaka gave Master Po a sideways look.

Master Po laughed at the young Yamanouchi Ninja, saying, "Yes, you imp, and her aerial maneuvers also have a grace and beauty of their own."

They walked out to where Kim had unbuckled her harness and was carefully gathering up her chute to make it easier to repack later.

"Kim Possible, allow me to present Master Po," said Hirotaka. "Master Po, this is Kimberly Possible, granddaughter of Amanda Possible."

"Master Po," Kim bowed very respectfully, "It is an honor to meet you, sir," then stepped forward to embrace the old master in a hug, "My Nana told me to be sure to give you this."

Master Po returned the hug, laughing, "And did she tell you that she used to try to bribe me with chocolate to teach her advanced techniques?"

Releasing Kim, he held her at arm's length to see her better, "Or is there another reason that you have a large bag of what smells like delicious dark chocolate?"

Laughing they helped Kim collect her things and went inside the monastery to show her a room and where she could freshen up before dinner.

* * *

Kim was at peace as she finished the _Parting the Wild Horse's Mane_ form for Tai Chi. When she was six, she had thought that it should be called _Petting the Pretty Pony_. She let her mind gently wander over the last three weeks. Up at dawn, a five-kilometer easy run to the mountain's foothills and back. Then this group Tai Chi exercise in the field outside the main gate with all the monks to settle one's body and mind before breakfast and morning classes.

Master Po had her teaching a children's class in beginning movement in the morning and a course on elementary math in the afternoon. The monastery taught local children basic skills of reading, calligraphy, and math. All children were welcome, even those who had no desire to study to become a monk. Her math class was a lesson in patience as it relied on both her very rough beginning Chinese and her students beginning English to work. She wasn't sure that she was doing any good, but Master Po and her students were pleased with her efforts.

Kim gracefully switched into the _Step Back and Repulse Monkey_ form. She thought, 'Hmm, maybe they should add a _Step Forward and Embrace Monkey-Boy_ form.' If it weren't for Ron, she would consider remaining here for a full semester, maybe even two to give her time to get a basic knowledge of Chinese and a deeper understanding of Kung Fu and Buddhism. In the evenings, Master Po had been instructing her in both Kung Fu and the Eightfold Path, often at the same time. She was not looking to become a monk but felt that there were things that she wanted to learn.

Then there was Dr. Donar Alfadurson. Tall, broad shoulders, blond hair, a face with dancing eyes of sky blue and a roguish grin that had Kim's body flushing with a warmth down to her toes. He was a physician working with the children in the monastery and the people in several close-by villages. He had been eating dinner with Kim and Hirotaka for the last week. His English had no accent that Kim could identify and was vague on his background, but somehow, she had enjoyed their dinner conversations immensely, even though she couldn't necessarily remember the topics. While she certainly hadn't the slightest inclination of replacing Ron with Donar, surely having dinner with him couldn't hurt...

Kim realized that her attraction to Donar had been less subtle than she had thought because last night's lesson had mentioned it.

In their nightly classes, Master Po ran her through practice katas while discussing aspects of the Eightfold Path.

Last night, they worked on _Striking Dragon_. As was his teaching style, Master Po would reach out with his hand or his staff to gently move her body, arm, leg, or hand into the proper position. They started slowly, and Kim would build up speed with each repetition. As he physically guided her through the katas, he would speak on the topic of the night.

"Tonight, I wish to discuss the principle of _Right Action_," Master Po had stopped her and corrected her stance slightly. Kim immediately felt the improvement in her balance. "With _Right Action_, you will strive to recognize the need to act ethically, to consider others and consider the world we live in."

"Makes sense to me, Master," Kim replied, happy to get through a block and strike combo with only one minor adjustment.

"This also includes the five precepts, not to kill, not to steal, not to lie, to avoid sexual misconduct, and not to take drugs or alcohol."

Kim halted her kata. "Master, I have killed," she said softly, looking at the ground.

"My daughter," Po reached over and gently tipped her head up so he could see her eyes, thinking, 'Hiro was correct that vision gives you another sense to see the goodness that exists in this world.'

"Precepts are not commandments or laws that one can break," Po continued, "they are principles to consider in choosing the path you walk. Still, you should not ignore them without serious consideration and cause. Why did you kill?"

"It was the only way I could think of to stop someone who was going to kill my partner and then try to burn the world."

"Was there no other way?"

"I…I couldn't think of anything; the monkeys were screaming so loud it was hard to think…"

"Were you under the influence of Mystical Monkey Power?" he asked.

"Yes, besides enhancing my strength and speed, it gave me an arrogance, a disdain for my enemy that I found disturbing even while in its grip," Kim admitted.

"Perhaps we should change the list of precepts to include 'not to take drugs, alcohol, or Mystical Monkey Power'?"

"Since then I have been learning to draw on the power without drawing on the rage and arrogance," Kim replied. "And to be honest, I currently contain no power so I am not tempted it to use it."

"Currently?" queried the monk.

"I can get a recharge of MMP from my partner, Ron Stoppable, but when that is exhausted, I have none until he recharges me."

Master Po gently prodded her to restart the kata.

"We will talk more about this later, but I wish to discuss another precept." Po took his staff and gently adjusted her arm angle, "Mr. Alfadurson has caught your eye. While I am celibate, as are most Shaolin monks…"

"Master Po, I am not chasing after Dr. Alfadurson!" Kim was on the edge of outrage but waited to see where the old monk was going before throwing herself off that edge.

"Perhaps. But I wish to talk about stealing or to be more exact, to take that which is not freely given." Po gave her another nudge to continue the kata, "Dr. Alfadurson is handsome, charming, a skilled doctor, in all appearances, a truly excellent man. But I believe that something in him is blocked. It is as if a geas has been laid on him, that before he can reclaim his old life, he must do some task. Surely you have noticed that he is very vague about his past and if you press him, he seems disturbed that he can't remember. A short time later he has forgotten all about his distress and your question."

He stopped his student to correct an arm position and then had her keep going as he continued,

"I merely wish to point out that should you decide to have a relationship with him, that he cannot freely give his part of that relationship because of the things he cannot remember. To take what is not freely given or cannot be freely given is theft."

Master Po, after Kim had completed the kata to his satisfaction, demonstrated the Striking Dragon's _Sweep the Sun From the Sky_ technique, proving that this old monk still had a cool move or two left in his old body. Motioning for her to try it, she did. After nearly a dozen attempts with corrections, Kim performed the move well enough that the old monk clapped his hands in delight. "Show that to your grandmother. Tell her that you learned it for free, she paid a quarter of a chocolate bar to entice me to teach her!" Master Po's smile lit the night.

Bowing to her, he declared the class over. "One last comment. When dealing with relationships be aware of breaking promises that you have already made to yourself or others. Also, consider promises others have made to you."

* * *

That night, she cleaned up and lay down on the mat in her cell hoping to dream of Ron…

_but she couldn't move her legs. Looking down she saw that Warmonga, lying in a pool of her blood held them fast. "Join me in death my darling Great Blue, and together we will rule all the hells!" Warmonga whispered as Warhawk walked toward her with a cruel laugh on his lips and a dagger dripping blood in his hand. Kim desperately called for the blue and the Lotus Blade. But she had no MMP, and the Lotus Blade didn't answer…_

"Miss Possible! Kimberly! Wake up! Kim! you're having a bad dream!"

Kim woke to find the sky-blue eyes of Donar Alfadurson looking with concern into hers, and his strong hands gripped her shoulders. A single candle provided soft light in her little room. She felt her body melt against his touch. But the lessons from this night.

"Who have you promised? Who has promised you?" Kim murmured.

"What are you talking about, Kim? Are you OK?" Donar answered, leaning closer to her, "Kim, I can feel your desire…"

Kim put her hand on his lips and pushed his head back. "True, my body thinks you are pretty hot. But my mind points out that you can't freely give me of yourself because you can't remember your promises to others or remember what others have promised you. And that my actions can hurt someone who would die rather than hurt me. Thank you very much for waking me from the nightmare. See you at breakfast?"

Eyes worthy of a Viking god clouded with bewilderment and confusion as Donar tried to remember promises made and received, but drew a blank. After a moment his eyes cleared and he said, "Glad I could be of assistance, Kimberly. See you at breakfast." He got up and left.

After a minute, Kim got up, toweled off her sweat soaked body, put on a fresh nightshirt, then flipping her mat over to a drier side, went back to sleep dreaming of a blond young man who promised her everything...

Kim dragged her mind from last night's lesson and application of that lesson back to the sunny here and now. The form coming up was the closing form. She completed it, and the cooldown then started back to the monastery for breakfast. She was hoping to run into Donar there; maybe she could figure out how to help him with his geas. He was a nice guy and a good man, just not a Ron. Pausing when she felt the ground vibrating, she saw a flash of white on the nearby mountainside. Then she heard thunder from the mountain. Darting through the crowd of monks, she dashed back to her quarters to change into mission clothes.

Kim and Hirotaka had their mission gear on and backpacks ready when Master Chun Yen started to make assignments.

"Hirotaka and Kim Possible will go with Dr. Alfadurson to the mountain village on your motorcycles. We have runners fetching trucks from the local farmers. I expect that the rest of the monks will be no more than an hour behind Dr. Alfadurson's group."

Dashing to their motorcycles, they mounted up and raced to investigate.


	2. Heimdallr

Kim clung to Hirotaka on his bike racing down the dirt road to the mountain village. It wasn't Ron's Harley, and she would have traded not only Hirotaka's bike but Hirotaka himself for Ron _and_ his bike in a heartbeat. Hiro was a stand of bamboo, strong and flexible in the face of the storm. Nearly impossible to truly defeat. Ron was the oak, strong and unyielding until breaking to protect those he sheltered. Because sometimes personal survival isn't the top priority. Arriving at the village, they dismounted and started to look around. Expecting an avalanche, they saw only a snow trail leading to devastated buildings. The snow trail had footprints, large unearthly footprints.

People came running up from their hiding places in the wreckage and started all talking at once. Donar turned grim, turned and raced up the snow path into the mountain.

"Hiro! What are they saying!" Kim shouted over the growing crowd.

"They say that giants smashed their homes and carried off people," Hirotaka answered.

"I'm going after Donar, stay here and get the people ready to evacuate!" then seeing the rebellion in Hiro's eyes, she added, "I can't do it, I don't speak enough Chinese!" Finally seeing him give the nod then start talking to the villagers, she dashed up the snow path after Donar.

Running around boulders blocking the path, she came to a small snow-covered field. At the far edge was a glowing portal, in the center were three giants made of ice? One carried three struggling villagers in its arms. Using her hairdryer grapple, she caught an arm and digging in her heels pulled with all her strength. The arm loosened enough for the villagers to slip free. Staggering away from the giant who was looking puzzled at his arm, they fled toward her, then past her to escape.

'Call me' a soft voice whispered in her head. Looking around, she saw a handle sticking out of the snow. 'The Lotus Blade is here?', She wondered. That the Lotus Blade was here and not halfway around the world gave her hope. As the giants looked around to see where their snacks had gone to, Kim held out her hand and thought, "Come, I need you."

A massive short-handled hammer flew out of the snow, and its hilt smacked into her hand. Immediately, she felt every cell in her body light up with energy. She felt herself grow physically, indeed becoming more muscular. Either that or her underwear was shrinking. Her peripheral vision narrowed as a helmet appeared on her head and leather armor reinforced with metal formed on her body. She reached down and managed to struggle out of her cargo pants and panties before they gave her a debilitating wedgie. She felt the straps on her sports bra snap. At least it wasn't her favorite pink one.

"Pike!" she commanded the weapon in her hand. Nothing happened. All right, not the Lotus Blade then. None of her Kung Fu styles had a short-handled hammer form. Deciding that just hitting the target with the hammer would do for a start, she swung the hammer meeting an oncoming giant icy fist. The giant fist shattered and the giant drew back a stump. Unfortunately, its fist grew back as she watched, but maybe a little smaller?

"This one fights back!" roared the first giant.

"Looks too scrawny to share, I call dibs!" called the second.

"Mine!" the first giant reached for Kim. Kim swung at the giant, but not used to her changed physique, the hammer slipped from her hand and flew into the giant's chest causing its entire body to shatter.

"Ha! Ha! The skinny one is now mine!" the second giant shouted in glee while the third just looked befuddled. It stretched out its hand to snatch up Kim. Kim raised her arm to redirect the blow, but the hammer had continued through the first giant's chest and was circling back to her. It followed the motion of her hand and shattered the second giant's arm.

The third giant finally was able to complete its thought. "Thor has returned to Midgard, we must report!" and started for the portal.

Kim's mind was racing. First, she realized that the hammer, once thrown, could be guided in its flight. Then she was trying to decide whether to let the Ice Giants escape when she noticed Donar diving through the portal. Chasing after him she thought that he was drawing off the Ice Giants and the Ice Midgets, as the shards from the first one's shattered body had reformed into waist-high creatures. Whatever they were called, every one of the ice beings was following Donar through the portal.

The portal was starting to close; she wasn't going to make it. A calm, sane Kim Possible would have stopped and called it a day. This Kim Possible listened to the small voice that said: "Throw me but don't let go." Snatching up her cargo pants, she hurled the hammer at the portal, then caught it at the last instant. The hammer pulled her along like a rocket and together they flew through the portal just as it closed.

Her landing on the other side was less than graceful, but the soft snow prevented road rash at the cost of snow down parts of her armor. Scrambling to her feet and looking around, she saw crystalline Ice Giants as beautiful as the ones she had fought were ugly. They were speaking in a language that she did not understand to the Ice Giants and Ice Midgets. Donar was in the arms of a golden-haired woman. From the passion of their embrace Kim realized that first, Donar's memory seemed to be doing much better and second, he probably didn't care about any geas at the moment. A dark-haired man with a flaming sword stood between them and all the Ice Creatures.

"Brother, Sif, perhaps it would be a good idea for you two to take that back to the palace and get a room. I think our welcome here is about to run out." Looking at Kim, he added with a wink of his eye, "Thor, perhaps you should accompany us for the time being." A portal sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow opened at her back.

Kim walked over, and between the two of them, they managed to get the lip-locked couple through the rainbow portal.

The portal dropped them on a gleaming bridge shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. Quite a trip actually, Kim thought that mere skydiving would never give her the same rush. Standing at the end of the bridge stood a huge pale-skinned man in full armor holding a massive sword vertically, point down against the bridge. Behind him was a gate and behind that was a glittering city.

"Welcome back my friends and welcome Lady Kimberly." he boomed and then smiled, showing gold teeth. "Come with me please, Lady Kimberly and I will make certain you are ready to enter Asgard. My name is Heimdallr."

"How do you know my name?" asked Kim as she was guided toward a house by the gate.

"I might have heard it when you were introduced to Master Po." Heimdallr pulled off his helmet.

Kim looked at his pale skin and white hair. "Are you really the 'whitest of all the gods'?"

"Where did you hear that?"

"My cousin Larry was critiquing a movie that had you in it. You were dark-skinned in the movie, and he said that the movie was inaccurate."

"Your cousin Larry sounds like a wise man. I trust the actor they picked was incredibly handsome." laughed Heimdallr.

Heimdallr led her into a kitchen with a table and chairs. It looked disturbingly like her parent's kitchen in their old house in Middleton. "I thought a familiar place would soothe your nerves. I have some very nice mead, or," he gave her a sour, slightly disgusted look, "I could make some tea, some boring, plain tea, perhaps with a little honey."

"Tea, please and thank you. I thought you brought me here to test me?" Kim asked, "You know, to see if I was worthy of entering Asgard."

Her host had a booming laugh, "My Lady, you carry Mjöllnir without using Thor's iron gauntlets. Not even Odin can lift Mjöllnir barehanded. That Mjöllnir allows you to do that proves you are worthy of entering Asgard."

"I have very sharp vision and hearing. Seeing you would need suitable clothing, I have some suitable clothing for you for when you are not carrying that hammer. If you are not armored and pick it up, I saw that Mjöllnir would provide armor. But grasping that hammer also changes you physically, I saw you become more muscular and taller. I assume you are stronger as well. When you let go of the hammer, you should slowly revert to your smaller, normal self."

"Sif provided the clothes, I described your size, if they don't fit, it is my lack of eloquence in describing your size." He placed a mug of hot tea in front of her and set a little jar of honey beside it with a spoon."

"Who is Sif?" Kim sipped the tea, finding it closer to espresso than orange pekoe, she stirred in a little honey.

"She was the goddess who met Thor in the land of the Ice Giants. She is his wife."

"Wait, so Dr. Donar Alfadurson was really Thor the Thunder God with some sort of enchantment on him? And he's married?"[1]

"Yes, he decided that he had become unworthy of Mjöllnir and was traveling in Midgard as a healer to try to prove himself worthy." Heimdallr had gone to a cupboard and returned with a plate with cheese, crackers, and cookies that he set on the table in front of Kim.

"Who was the man that had the flaming sword?"

"That was Loki, Thor's adopted brother. When they were young, Sif, Thor, and Loki were inseparable and to this day are loyal to each other. Be wary of Loki, he is a real jerk of a god that likes to play jokes on others, and his sense of humor has gotten him and others in trouble. For example, Mjöllnir is partly an apology for cutting off Sif's hair and partly the result of a trick he played on the dwarves who made it. That trick almost lost him his head…"

Having an afternoon tea and cookies with a Norse God might not have been the strangest thing that Kim could remember, but she was pretty sure that it was at least second.

While Heimdallr was far-seeing and hearing and all that, he wasn't omnipotent. Kim pulled her Kimmunicator out of her cargo pants pocket and played the video she and Ron made of her and Hana playing Skeeball. He roared with delight at the sight of Ron doing a victory dance with Hana. Later, she showed a video of Joss and her brothers with their robot Pegasus.

Looking thoughtful, he said, "You and your friend Ron have very interesting siblings."

"Ron Stoppable is my partner!"

"Shouldn't he be here with you then?" Heimdallr honestly asked.

"Sif wasn't with Thor when he was wandering around Earth!"

"Perhaps Thor was a fool."

"Maybe I am the fool in this case," Kim admitted. "I failed to plan to be together with him on the college thing, and now we are working on getting ready to be back together again."

"Perhaps we should get you back to your Ron sooner rather than later. Probably after the battle."

"What battle?"

"The Nine Sons of Thrívaldi are leading a warband of Jotunn against Asgard as we speak. The bridge will not be clear enough to let you go back until after the battle. It appears that they did not take Thor's cutting off their father's heads well."

"Heads?" Kim had already had a long morning and was suspecting that it wasn't over yet.

"Yes, Thrívaldi had nine heads, one to keep watch on each son."

"Why?"

"Well, Lady Kim when you have sons you will understand how hard it is to keep track…"

"No, I mean why did Thor cut off his heads?"

"Not sure. Sometimes I think that Thor just likes to fight. But we need to get to the gate." Heimdallr got up, put on his helmet and walked out the door.

Kim grabbed Mjöllnir, feeling herself swell with strength and added muscles. Fresh armor formed around her. 'Spanking_._' she thought, '_Certainly_ easier than putting on mission clothes.' She followed her host out of his house and into chaos.

The battle was horrific. Kim had fought one on one against Shego and sometimes one on several against henchmen, but this was a swirling cloud of violence where she was at most, waist high on her foes. They just kept coming. She was holding her own with Mjöllnir wreaking destruction on trolls and the occasional giant. Her hammer-strength brought her gymnastic dodging and attacking to new levels. Some attacks she blocked outright using her shield. She didn't remember getting a shield; it was just there.

She remembered glimpses of Thor wielding a massive axe with glee, a worried looking Loki with a sword of fire, and even saw Sif in the fight. But then she was caught off guard and hit with a giant's mace that had a head the size of a Buick. Falling crumpled and broken to the ground, the last thing she remembered of the battle was Asgardians chanting "For Lady Kim!".

* * *

1) Donar is another name for Thor and "Alfadurson" is "son of Alfadur" or "son of the father of all." So this makes the name expand to "Thor, the son of the father of all." Which I think is cooler than "Steve."

Now the best I can figure, Odin is not really the father of all but is sometimes called the "Father of All" anyway. A couple of references that you might find interesting besides Wikipedia are (after removing extra spaces)

www. veritablehokum comic /the-norse-god-family-tree/

www. britam / AesirSalverda. HTML

Or just mentally think "Steve" when you see Donar.

* * *

Thor walked to the gate carrying a bloody and broken Kim Possible. He was met there by a tall red-haired healer. "Eir, this is Lady Kim, she followed me into battle on Midgard to defend me."

"Give her to me, I'll claim her," the woman said, taking Kim from Thor, "although it appears to me that she may be a fool. Surely she didn't think that you needed defending?"

"No, she did not know who I was; she just saw a fellow human in trouble and jumped to help. She is now the one whose hand wields Mjöllnir."

Eir nodded, a bit more impressed now and carried her fallen warrior into Asgard.

Kim's head hurt. Most of her hurt, but her head was the most notable source of pain. Opening her eyes, which also hurt, she saw she was inside a room of some sort.

"My Lady," came a soft voice, "do you think that you can eat this?" Kim saw a hand holding a slice of fruit. Turning her head a little, which hurt, she saw a woman's concerned face, a face with green eyes, freckles and bordered with red hair.

"Joss? Is that really you?" Kim wondered out loud.

"No, my Lady," spoke the woman, "I am Eir, a healer and Valkyrie. Now, do you think you can eat this?" she waggled the slice of fruit.

"What is it?"

"A slice of yellow apple."

"And what does it do?" Kim eyed the fruit with suspicion though even that hurt.

Eir sighed, "It will finish healing the damage in your body, remove any infection, relieve pain, make your hair softer and shinier, remove skin blemishes, prevent gassiness, provide a measure of immortality, prevent pregnancy…"

"Wait, what was that last thing?"

"These yellow apples if eaten regularly, roughly four times a year, provide immortality…"

"Never mind that, the pregnancy part."

Eir looked curiously at her patient, "You cannot become pregnant for at least four weeks after eating one."

Kim opened her mouth. As Eir slipped the apple slice between her lips, she wondered, "OK, contraceptive of the gods versus Ron's MMP boosted fertility… Might be worth a shot…"

After the first slice, Kim felt good enough to sit up a little. Eir assisted her and placed pillows behind her. Eir cut more slices of apple and fed them to her.

"Did I have a hammer with me when you found me?" Kim asked.

"Your hammer is out on the Bifrost; no one can move it. Please don't call it; I like my walls to be without holes."

"When can I leave?" Kim asked.

"Anxious to get back into battle, I see," Eir approved, "You need another two days to heal completely. The healing effect works best in Asgard, so it is best to remain here. The other benefits of the apple will continue for about a month afterward no matter where you go. That comes in handy, trust me, you will need the apple's protection in Svartalfheim. The chili of the dwarves you find there is truly legendary, but without protection from an apple slice, the after-effects are brutal."

"Is Heimdallr's house considered inside Asgard for healing? He was nice; I'd like to visit him again."

"Yes, you will heal quickly at his house."

"How many more do I have to eat?"

"Just this one, but you need time to heal so remain in Asgard for a couple of days. Sleep now and in the morning you will be fit enough to get up and walk around," Eir laid a soothing hand on Kim's forehead, and Kim remembered nothing else that day.

Kim awoke with the light of morning feeling pretty good. She figured it was the light of morning, there were no actual windows in the room, but the outside walls were translucent and let in light. Looking around, she found a bathroom with a recognizable toilet and shower. There was even a hairbrush on a sink, scented soaps, and towels. Thinking it was a little funny that even gods had to poop sometimes, she got washed up and ready for the day. Finding the bundle of clothes that Sif had provided, she managed to figure out how to put them on and went out in search of breakfast.

"Good morning, Lady Thor," Loki teased as he ran into her in the corridor.

"Just Kim is fine, Loki. Or is it Lord Loki?" replied Kim, her mind ignoring her body pointing out that "Loki was kind of old, but still a hottie."

"Just Loki is fine; have you broke fast this day?"

"No, in fact, I am looking for food."

"Follow me; I am going to the dining hall myself."

Kim thought that 'food of the gods' wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Some luscious fruit, some great looking bread, but mostly stacks and stacks of meat and endless pitchers of mead. And singing. The place was full of warriors just back from some battle somewhere and given the infinite mead, that meant singing. Loud, off-key singing. Loki was over by a large group singing with them. Stacking fruit, bread and even some meat on a platter, she got a goblet of "just water" from a servant who also gave her directions to the Bifrost.

Arriving at Heimdallr's house, she found the white guardian in a trance, or maybe just meditating. The hammer was sitting on the Bifrost where she had dropped it in the battle. Sitting down on the steps to the house, she ate her breakfast and enjoyed the warm sun.

Presently she saw Thor leading a dozen warriors walking across the bridge. Loki came out of the gate to meet them. The other warriors walked through the gate leaving the two brothers alone on the rainbow bridge.

"Brother!" said Thor, "We have given the Jotunn a beating that they will not soon forget!"

"Their grievances seemed valid; perhaps you should have negotiated instead." Loki pointed out.

"Negotiations are for the weak!" Thor shouted.

Kim got up and walked toward the bickering pair. It seemed to her to be an old argument.

"If I ruled, Asgard would be stronger because we would have allies, not foes!"

"Wait, wait!" Kim stepped between Loki and Thor pushing them apart.

She turned to Loki, "You want to rule Asgard?"

"Yes! I have studied all my life to be a great ruler, but the All-Father has declared Thor to be the rightful heir."

She turned to Thor, "You don't want to rule Asgard, you'd rather be out leading troops and fighting to defend Asgard and Midgard, right?"

"Yes, but the All-Father has declared me the rightful heir!"

Still addressing Thor who didn't see where this was going, "Do you think that you would make a better ruler than Loki?"

"No, I have not the patience and scheming wit that Loki has, but the All-Father has declared me the rightful heir!"

Kim was starting to lose her temper, "Then when you are the ruler, then abdicate to Loki under the condition that you become the Defender of the Realm or something like that! That way, he gets to rule, and you get to fight!"

Both thought for a second then together started, "The All-Father has declared…"

Kim threw up her hands in defeat, "gods! Do you two even listen to what you're saying? It sounds _stupid_!". She turned and stomped back to a laughing Heimdallr.

"And what just is so funny, Mr. 'I'm a god and can foresee all the punchlines'?" Kim snapped as she walked up to him.

Heimdallr engulfed Kim in a huge hug, extinguishing her anger. "I can foresee the most probable futures. For ages, these visions have remained unchanged. But you are changing the very definition of what is probable!"

"What do you see in my future?" Kim asked even though she knew it was a bad idea.

"I can't see you at all!" Heimdallr roared with delight, "You, your partner, your sisters, your brothers, none of the young ones you showed me on your device."

"And that is good because?" asked Kim.

"That is great because now the gods in Asgard will have to learn to think and plan, not just blindly accept the foretold future!"

"Blindly accept the foretold future?" asked Kim.

"Yes!" Heimdallr roared with delight. "Odin gathers the mightiest warriors at his side because he knows that Fenrir the mighty wolf is going to murder him at the end. Not that he hopes to defeat him, but wants to die in a blaze of glory!" Seeing that Kim wasn't understanding, he continued, "Fenrir hasn't even been born yet! Until I saw you, I believed that our fates are already decided and the best we could do is to die fighting with a battle cry in our hearts and a smile on our lips!"

Kim was considering his words when she noticed an unarmored man run out the gate and start talking excitedly to Thor and Loki. Thor turned to Kim with a look of glee and shouted, "Come, Lady Kim, we are needed at Jotunheim!"

**Credits**

Check the details in my profile, but basically,

Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters.

Links to notes on Norse stuff is sprinkled through the text.


	3. Fishing in Jotunheim, then to Nidavellir

Previously…

"Yes!" Heimdallr roared with delight. "Odin gathers the mightiest warriors at his side because he knows that Fenrir the mighty wolf is going to murder him at the end. Not that he hopes to defeat Fenrir, but wants to die in a blaze of glory!" Seeing that Kim wasn't understanding, he continued, "Fenrir hasn't even been born yet! Until I saw you, I believed that our fates are already decided and the best we could do is to die fighting with a battle cry in our hearts and a smile on our lips!"

Kim was considering his words when she noticed an unarmored man run out the gate and start talking excitedly to Thor and Loki. Thor turned to Kim with a look of glee and shouted, "Come, Lady Kim, we are needed at Jotunheim!

The Bifrost dropped them onto a clearing in the middle of a forest of tall pines. A roadway had been cut through the rocky soil and followed along a river. From the position of the sun, seen shining through a gap in the trees, it was either early in the morning or late in the afternoon

Thor and Loki, a massive axe and a flaming sword in hand raced down the road with Kim in hot pursuit, hammer in hand and armor forming on her body as she ran.

"What's the sitch!" Kim called out to her companions.

Loki put his hand on his brother's shoulder and brought him to a walk. "Brother," he said, "I believe that Lady Kim is asking about the plan. We should have one."

Thor thought hard for a second then replied "Plan? I figured that we win the contest and then drag ourselves back home. Assuming that one of us is still standing at the end. Because, as courageous as Lady Kim is, she is not tall enough to carry both of us back without dragging parts of us on the ground."

"A contest? What kind of contest?" Kim asked.

"Mead drinking," Loki replied. "This is part of my effort to settle disputes with negotiation instead of battle." Seeing Kim's look of disbelief, he continued, "One step at a time, my Lady, one step at a time. Plus, they have a new style of mead for us to try called "Skotsk."

"What about logic and reasoning?" Kim demanded, stopping and refusing to move forward. "What about both sides presenting their complaints and requirements so that both can compromise and find an acceptable course of action."

"That sounds rather difficult and time-consuming," Thor informed her. "While we would be spending time reasoning and arguing, other enemies could be moving on Asgard. We must deal with this threat so that we can quickly return to our home and defend it!"

"Oh, and how long will it take for you to sleep off the drunk or recover from the hangover?" Kim's hands found their way to her hips. She felt like she did when she was just sixteen and had caught her brothers preparing to modify the neighbor's cat.

"Lady Kim," Loki addressed her, his voice one of pure reason and honesty. "Traditionally, such negotiations take place after a battle so bloody that neither side wishes to participate in another one. While I agree that your suggestion has certain merit, we cannot throw away millennia of tradition overnight."

"But drinking mead?" She couldn't keep the disbelief from her voice. "Mead is so sickeningly sweet; I don't see how you can drink it without gagging. Are you sure that this isn't just a big excuse, from both sides, to guzzle mead until everyone is falling over drunk?"

"Well, I admit that the thought has a certain appeal," Thor admitted, scraping one foot on the rocky path like a chastised schoolboy. "What do you suggest we drink instead?", Thor asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know! I don't drink alcoholic beverages. Dad likes beer, but he doesn't drink to excess." Kim retorted.

"Doesn't drink to excess? Don't see the point of drinking then," muttered Thor under his breath.

"What's next?" She glared at them both. "Farting contests?

"Of course not!" Thor's voice was now all offended dignity.

"At least there's some sanity in this world," Kim sighed.

"Their access to the dwarf's chili from Nidavellir would give them an unbeatable advantage in any such contest. The yellow apples we eat render us powerless in the needed capability," explained Thor.

"Forget I said anything," she grumbled. "Lead on. Maybe I can prevent this from turning into a complete disaster."

As they came to a crossroad, Mjöllnir pulled her to the left. "That's strange, my hammer wants to go this way," she observed.

"You should go investigate. Certainly, assistance from you or the Hammer is needed," replied Loki.

"In the meantime, we will be fine, don't worry about us," said Thor, eager to be on his way without their 'Midgardian wet blanket' in tow.

"See you in a bit then," Kim jogged down the side road, happy to have gotten out of a night of heavy drinking even if they thought they were honoring her by bringing her along. Kim then thought to herself, '_Those __**idiots**__ actually think I want to get drunk and stupid with them? They gotta learn to get a clue.'_

After a while, she slowed to a walk and started to wonder if she had traded drunk and stupid for sober and stupid. Technically, she couldn't be lost; the road was easy to follow as it was a clear, almost entirely paved path through the trees. But she didn't know where she was going and had no idea how to get back. If she returned to where she started would Heimdallr see her and have the Bifrost scoop her up? All the while the hammer was gently pulling her forward.

And it was getting dark.

* * *

Thor held up his drinking horn for more mead. He selected his seat at the end of the table closest to the swimming-pool-sized copper bowl the mead had been brewed in. The general population of the room was now too inebriated to tolerate long sagas from the skalds, the poets had been driven from the throne room, pelted by bones and chunks of bread left over from the great platters of food put on the tables so that the contestants and their audience would have a base for drinking. Several groups had started singing bawdy, reprehensible songs; precisely the kind his adopted brother loved. Looking around, he didn't see Loki but saw the king of Jotunheim, King Utgarda-Loki had joined the party and was seated at the head of the table. His slightly blurry vision pointed out how much Loki favored the King. He was starting to ponder whether he had ever seen the King and Loki in the same room at the same time, but the new weight of his refilled drinking horn called for his attention. As the sweet slightly syrupy liquid slid down his throat, he realized that he could not understand Lady Kim's objection to it. Just as well she split off in search of adventure elsewhere, he didn't want to hear her whining all night.

* * *

It was dark now, even with a full moon shining through gaps in the forest canopy. Presently, she came to a cottage. Well, the style said 'cottage,' but the size said 'stately manor.' It had a well out front, and a large, young looking woman was drawing water. Looking up, she called out,

"Greetings traveler, you are certainly out late. Do you have business here or are you perhaps lost?"

"Hi!" Kim called back, trying to sound harmless and cheery, "My name is Kim Possible, I am not lost, although I have no idea where I am. As for my business, I am just following the lead of Mjöllnir," she held up her hammer, "It seems to think that I need to be here," and sure enough, the hammer was pointed at the house.

"My name is Kari, come into the house and talk to my Da. He might be able to help you find what you seek. At the very least, join us for dinner and rest. The woods are not safe this late at night for young ladies such as ourselves," she looked Kim up and down then continued, "well, not for a young lady such as myself, I suspect that for one such as yourself, armored and armed with a Magic Dwarven-forged Hammer, would be just fine."

Kim followed her host into the house feeling once again like a small child. Kari towered over her, and she was attractive enough if your idea of beauty ran to MMA women fighters. But never would Kim have thought that anything in the dark woods could bother this woman. And if there was something that could endanger the powerful looking woman, it might just consider herself a tasty Kimmy-sized snack.

"Da, this is Kim Possible, a traveler whose hammer is leading her on a quest. Kim Possible, this is Hymir, my Da."

The man Kari addressed pulled a large loaf of freshly baked bread out of an oven and placed in on a stove next to a large bubbling pot.

"Welcome to my home, Kim Possible. Our fare tonight is simple bread, vegetable stew, and cold water. You are welcome to share it with us if you want."

"That sounds wonderful, Hymir, is there somewhere I could wash off the road dust?" Kim replied, delighted to be in the company of reasonable people eating something other than stacks of meat. Best of all, there was no mention of swilling mead or singing.

Hymir stared at the redhead then reached out, gently grabbed her with hands the size of shovels and lifted her briefly off the ground and then carefully put her down.

"By Odin's missing nut!" he swore, "You aren't that little hoodlum punk Thor in disguise!"

"Hoodlum punk?" Kim asked.

"I'd say what I really think of him, but you look like a cultured, polite young woman. He came by last year, and I offered him a place to stay the night and dinner. He insisted that I slaughter an ox for a feast and then bullied his way into going fishing with me the next morn. He ruined the fishing and put two holes in my boat!"

"Well, I am definitely not him. I would be grateful for supper and a place to sleep, then perhaps in the morning you could tell me what lays in that direction," Kim pointed in the direction that Mjöllnir seemed to want to go.

"Hmm. That is the direction of my favorite fishing waters. Do you fish, Kim Possible?"

"I've gone fishing with my father and uncle. That is, I've fished using a hook, line, and bait for fish about this big," she said holding her hands about a foot apart.

"That's the kind of fishing that Da does," laughed Kari, "except the fish he catches grow a wee bit in the telling," she finished holding her hands about two feet apart.

"Come," she said, "let me show you where you can wash off the road dust."

Two more daughters appeared when dinner started, Sylvi and Tyra. The conversation was pleasant with each person telling tales of adventure and funny stories about dear friends and family.

After dinner, Hymir went to bed after warning his daughters not to keep their small guest up late with all their "foolish gossiping" so that she'd be rested when it was time to go fishing. So naturally, the young women were up late swapping tales of the young men that they had known with Kim telling them all about Ron. The stories of him always losing his pants were amusing, although Sylvi was convinced that it was a calculated male strategy to attract females…

It was late in a gray, overcast, wet morning when Hymir woke Kim.

"It's been raining this morning; the fishing will be poor, so I decided to let you rest. We should check to see if your hammer still has a direction it wants to travel."

Loading into his boat, Mjöllnir was tugging on Kim's hands with increased urgency. After casting off the lines, Kim sat in the front with her feet braced against the gunwales, letting the Hammer pull the boat along. Soon they had sailed into clear skies. They traveled on until they were far enough from shore that Hymir was starting to worry when a tiny island appeared.

Kim saw an enormous head and neck of some unknown beast laying on the rock. Around that scaly neck was a ship's anchor and chain, somehow the creature had managed to get tangled in its length. By the gasping of its breath, the poor creature must have been trying to get loose, but that somehow only tightened the iron noose around its neck.

"Kim Possible!" Hymir's face was pale with terror, "We must flee!"

Kim felt the Hammer and tried to listen to it. Like the Lotus Blade, she was sure it had intelligence, and since this was a Hammer of Justice, she felt that the task it had for her was critically important. She just had to quiet her mind and listen…

"It's dying! We've got to save it! I need your help!" she shouted.

"But… But, it's Jörmungandr! We must flee!" he protested.

"Pretend I don't know what a Jörmungandr is!"

Their boat slowed as they approached the giant wheezing beast.

"It's a giant world-ending serpent. It's one of Thor's mightiest foes. It's,…" Hymir paused, realizing what he just said. His face broke into a grin.

"How can I help?!" he shouted as Mjöllnir pulled the boat up onto the flat, smooth shore.

"Pull the chain tight," Kim shouted back, "I think if I hit the spot where the anchor is snagged on the chain, it will shatter and free the poor beast."

Hymir took the chain and gave a mighty heave pulling the anchor that Hammer Girl wanted to hit into the clear and over a substantial and solid rock part of the tiny island.

Kim wasted not a single heartbeat but used the bow of the boat and the Hammer itself to leap over a dozen feet up in the air. Wielding Mjöllnir in her right hand using her left for balance she brought the hammer along with a blaze of lightning from the sky down to earth striking the anchor and the tangle of chain with an earth-shaking blow. Chunks of red-hot iron from the anchor and broken chain links fell into the sea sizzling as the water cooled them.

Kim struggled to stand against the storm-force winds generated by the beast inhaling and exhaling now that it could breathe properly. Funny how she didn't notice how big it was when she was rushing to save it. Now that things were calmer, it's neck looked about the size of a 737 airliner's fuselage, maybe thirteen feet thick?

An airliner's fuselage with a nasty scratch on it. About two feet long, inflamed and angry looking. She reached in her pouch and pulled out a large tube of quadruple-antibiotic cream. Not enough for a two-foot wound and she certainly didn't have a band-aid that would fit, but she figured that she would do the best that she could. She carefully started pulling scale fragments out of the scratch and applied a thin coating of the ointment from a tube that never seemed to go below half full. Her never-ending ointment tube worried her, that looked like a setup or trap somehow. Then she noticed that the part of the scratch she was working on started rapidly healing as soon as she was done.

She was starting to miss her ordinary life, with ordinary stuff like synthodrones, mutant snowmen, DNAmy's creations, and the like when a shadow fell across her. Looking up, she noticed giant silver-green eyes on the equally giant serpent's head looking at her. She thought that snakes were notorious for poor vision and it was probably true as the serpent's tongue flickered out and danced all around her without actually touching her. She turned her face away when a snort from the giant beast threw up sand and spray. When she turned back, the creature was gone, just waves going out to sea.

"Kim Possible!" Hymir ran up, lifting the startled girl into the air declaring, "You are insane!" as he swung her into a circle before setting her back on the ground, "This is the kind of deeds that skalds write sagas about!"

"It was no big," she replied, "just broke a chain with a hammer and put some ointment on a scratch."

"Trust me, by the time the skalds get finished with our story; we will have fought a score of mermen to free the beautiful and fair damsel Jord, healed her grievous wounds and returned her to her grieving father and received riches in thanks."

Kim laughed, saying, "I'd settle for some lunch right now." Feeling the hammer start to pull in the direction of home, she continued, "Shall we be off?"

Still laughing, the pair started toward the boat when Kim noticed a glitter on the ground. Reaching down, she picked up a spiral-shaped golden snake that was just the right size for a beautiful wrist bangle.

"Spankin'," she said, sliding it onto her right wrist and adjusting it to fit snuggly. Catching up to Hymir, they soon had the boat in the water and Mjöllnir pulled them home, stopping once to let Hymir catch a couple of very nice fish for their supper.

* * *

The next morning, Hymir and his daughters gathered to send Kim on her way. She had offered them the golden bangle as a memento of their adventure, but everyone had refused.

"No Kim Possible," said Kari, "this is a gift of the gods, and a person takes another's gift at their peril."

The hammer was pointing down the road in the wrong direction to get back to where she came from.

Sylvi and Tyra said that further down the road she would find a gateway to Nidavellir, the land of dwarves who were "generally" friendly.

So, loaded with fresh water and fruit pastries for the road she set off.

After about three or four hours walking, Mjollner pointed to the side of the road. There Kim found a cave entrance and looking in the cave she saw steps leading down not into darkness, but light.

The stairs dropped her off in a corridor big enough for two cars to drive side by side. The corridor was lit by gemstones in the ceiling, and fresh air blew through slots cut in the wall. The Hammer picked a direction, and in about another ten minutes of walking, the corridor opened up into a vast work area. Instead of short and cute Disney Dwarves or even short and grim Lord of the Rings Dwarves, she saw two massive dark-skinned creatures wearing boots, leather pants, and heavy leather aprons working next to an open forge. As they turned to look at their new guest, Kim got a better look at them. Not men, but they were as tall as Thor and more heavily muscled. Indeed, while not as handsome as Asgardians, their rough features didn't look all that friendly at the moment.

"It's Mjöllnir!" cried the first one, his rough face breaking into a friendly smile, "It's come to visit!"

"Don't be an idiot; it's not that smart. But I see it found someone better than those stupid Asgardians to wield it. Welcome. I am Sindri, and this is my brother Brokk. We are the dwarves that made the hammer you carry."

'Whoa,' thought Kim, 'Am I really the shortest person in these realms?' She spoke, "I am Kim Possible from Midgard. I am pleased to meet you." Not knowing the proper custom, she made a polite Japanese style bow, one that you would make to a Sensei. Apparently, it was acceptable because both dwarves smiled and returned the bow. "You certainly made a truly amazing hammer. Would it be rude of me to ask what you are making now?"

Sindri beamed with pleasure at her praise and replied "Heimdallr has given us a prediction that we will need to make a chain stronger than any chain that has been made before," he held up six coils of what looked like pieces of different colored yarn. "These are crafted out of special materials." One at a time, he held up a coil of yarn and said,

"The black one is made with the sound of a cat's footfall."  
"The red one is made with the beard of a woman."  
"The blue one is made with the roots of a mountain."  
"The white one is made with the sinews of a bear."  
"The green one is made with the breath of a fish."  
"The yellow one is made with the spittle of a bird."

"To make the chain, we have to combine these materials. We are thinking of using the forge and hammering them together to make thin layers of a thicker rod we will use to make the chain links," said Brokk.

"Do they have to be bound together on a molecular level?" asked Kim as an idea formed in her mind.

"No, once placed into contact, they will slowly fuse. But it will look better if pounded into thin layers," said Brokk, "sort of like Damascus Steel. We are working on a method for holding the strands together while we work on them."

"Besides we are dwarves. We like fire and hammering things," pointed out Sindri. "And this is not the normal fire that you are used to. We once reshaped a hog's skin in these flames into a magical living boar."

"Could I try something? Can I have about the length of my arm of each one?" asked Kim.

"Be our guest; these are test strands we are experimenting with. Take as much as you want," answered Sindri.

Kim remembered Ron coming back from Camp Wannaweep all those years ago. The one thing he learned was making a dozen styles of friendship bracelets by apparently swapping his swimming period with another boy to get double arts and crafts. The simple braid style he showed her would be quick to do.

She used her hammer and a sharp edge of their anvil to cut six pieces of the yarn; each one was a little longer than the length of her arm. She then took the six sections, tied a knot at one end, and then laid her hammer on that end to hold it down. Working slowly and carefully at first, then picking up speed with practice, she did a simple three strand weave, using a pair of colors for each strand.

Holding it out to show Brokk and Sindri, she said: "Will this hold the strands together for whatever you need to do to them?"

Brokk took the woven strands and examined them. "Very precisely done, Kim Possible. May we try something?" he asked.

"Sure," Kim replied.

Brokk handed them to Sindri, and they walked over to the forge. Holding the bracelet in the fire with tongs while Brokk worked the bellows, Sindri then put the white-hot bracelet on the anvil where he pounded it with a hammer, generating more sparks than Kim would have thought possible from such a small object. He dropped the glowing red-hot bracelet into a bucket of water.

When it had cooled, Brokk wiped it off with a cloth and handed it back to Kim. She was surprised to see that the knots and the unwoven parts had been burned away, the strands in the woven section were fused with the individual strands still clearly visible. The woven section was soft but now very smooth with the colors of each strand glowing in the light with a metallic sheen.

"Try to cut it," smiled Sindri.

Kim laid the end of it on the sharp edge of the anvil and hit it with her hammer. The material was untouched, showing no sign of a cut or even a dent.

"This will be faster and more uniform than forging and folding layers together," said Brokk, "Thank you Kim Possible for showing this to us."

"We will have to find some women to come and do the weaving," pondered Sindri.

"It's not hard to learn; my partner taught me in just a few minutes when he was a young boy," said Kim. "These are used to show the friendship between young people on Midgard. You make ones that match and you each wear one around your wrist. I can teach you."

"Ah, it's magic then. Are you and your partner not still friends? Why do you not wear one?" ask Sindri.

"I guess ours wore out and we never replaced them," replied Kim thinking that she really should wear a ring or something signifying her connection to Ron. "It's not really magic; there is no spell or anything like that in the weave, just affection."

"Your partner is a man? No real man weaves," said a disbelieving Brokk.

"My partner," growled Kim, "Ron Stoppable, is a real man and he does many things including weaving these little bracelets and ripping the hearts of his enemies out of their chest with his bare hand."

"I apologize for my hasty and ill-considered speech, Kim Possible. Men of Midgard must be different than men of Asgard," Brokk said, "Men of Asgard are very concerned with "manliness." That means that no man of Asgard would ever do womanly things like weaving, performing magic, being penetrated during sex or bearing children."

"What?" Kim was flummoxed.

"Take Loki for example." Brokk explained, "Once he played a prank where he took the form of a mare to distract somebody's stallion. The stallion mounted him, and then later he bore a gray foal with eight legs, the horse Sleipnir. To the best of my knowledge, Loki has never woven anything, but still, if he were not a god, he would be cast out as Ergi."

"Loki has a child that is a horse. He gave birth to…" Kim tried to wrap her mind around the concept as she wondered if Eir had brain soap back in Asgard.

"A foal. Yes, Sleipnir's now Odin's favorite steed as I understand," said Brokk.

"Ergi?" asked Kim, still trying to catch up.

"Someone who is unmanly or has the characteristics of a woman. It is such a grave insult that to call someone 'ergi' often results in a challenge to the death," said Sindri.

"Tell us about your partner, Kim Possible. I would like to hear about a true man that weaves. First, let me get us some refreshments," said Brokk.

Clearing off a worktable, he went to a cupboard where he pulled out bowls, spoons, and mugs, placing them on the table. Taking a pitcher, he walked over to a tiny waterfall at one side of the room and brought it back filled with icy cold water. Going to the forge, he brought back a large Dutch oven and placed that on the worktable. All while Sindri pulled over three chairs. Seeing that Kim's feet did not reach the ground while sitting in the chair, he courteously scooted her up to the table. Finally, Brokk got hot biscuits out of a chamber on the side of the forge, setting them and a dish with butter on the table.

The chili was heavy on beans and root vegetables, spicy without being fiery. With cold water, butter, and biscuits, it made an excellent lunch. The company was pleasant, and at the end of the meal, Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator and played her hosts the videos showing her and Hana playing Skeeball and dancing with Ron.

"Your partner Ron will make an excellent wife, look at how nurturing he is to his little sister!" declared Brokk.

"Hey! I can be nurturing too, you know!" argued Kim.

"Indeed, and I expect that Mjöllnir is a great help to putting the tiny wee babes to bed at night," snorted Sindri with a raised eyebrow.

"I am more than just the hand that wields the hammer…" Kim said softly, hoping that it was true.

"Midgard is a strange place, Kim Possible. Men dance and play with little girls and women fight their foes."

Kim scrolled through the files on her Kimmunicator. There was a file that Wade had copied, a video that she was supposed to share with her GJ therapist. A therapist she had never gotten around to making an appointment to see. A file Kim had never seen and never wanted to see. She moved the cursor to "Lowardian battle video from Drakken" and tapped 'play.'

Turning the Kimmunicator around so her hosts could see it, she asked, "Is there somewhere I could relieve myself and wash up a bit?"

Brokk pointed to a door at the side of the room.

Sliding down from the chair, she said, "Midgard is a place where men and women both can play with little girls, weave friendship bracelets, and fight foes." As she walked to the bathroom, she heard Warmonga's voice say "Perhaps the girl child's head would look good mounted on the trophy wall. The red hair will be a nice touch." The room grew hot and airless as she fled to the bathroom in a near panic.

After entering the bathroom, it took her several minutes to recover from the panic attack. After getting physically relieved, Kim reached up to the sink, washed her hands and splashed water on her face. No towels but a couple of warm air jets coming from the wall managed to dry her off.

Walking back to her hosts, she placed the Kimmunicator back in a pouch, saying, "I have enjoyed meeting you both, and that was a fantastic lunch. I should find Thor and Loki and see what trouble they have gotten into.

Sindri answered, "Fear not for your companions if they found trouble we would have heard the fighting from here."

Brokk said, "Your partner looks like an interesting man. He fights like a mighty Asgard warrior, attacking with the fury and a grim smile in the face of certain death. But he plays with little girls, and we saw the glow of magic about him. Perhaps on Midgard manliness and femininity aren't separate, but two sides of a coin."

"Well, my partner's creed is 'never be normal'" answered Kim.

"Would you like two bracelets, one for you and one for your partner?"

"What would I owe you for these bracelets?" asked Kim.

"In the past, we took a certain favor from Freya, in exchange for a necklace," Sindri told her. "and now I believe we made a poor bargain. But I believe that such a favor is something that means something different to your culture."

"Besides, you showed us a new fabrication technique," Brokk told her. "We consider ourselves already paid and more. We would be pleased to have you and Ron Stoppable wear a trinket that we made."

"If you weave two for us, then we will add magic to them for you," said Sindri.

"What kind of magic?" Kim said suspiciously.

"I noticed that your arms shrink in size when you haven't touched the hammer in a while. I can make them where they will change in size. While they aren't big enough to make a good weapon, I can also make them come when you call as Mjöllnir does."

"Deal!" exclaimed Kim. She was delighted. There wasn't much in the way of gift shops in this place. Even though it was a teeny bit juvenile, she knew he would get a kick out of them having matching friendship bracelets made in the forges of the dwarves that created tools and weapons for the Norse gods.

Kim set to work weaving four friendship bracelets, all identical except in length. The ones for her and Ron she made long enough for a human adult and the ones for the dwarves, she made four times as long. While she worked, she talked about the missions that she and Ron had done and the dwarves talked about the items they made and the gods they had dealt with.

When Kim presented the woven bracelets to Sindri, he was surprised. "Kim Possible," he said, "These all have the same weave and order of colors in the pattern. I thought that you only gave friends the same pattern."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I was thinking of you and Brokk as friends. I can redo it if you want," said Kim.

"No. I like it as they are. I think it will be good to have two friends from Midgard." Sindri's voice sounded a little husky. Walking over to a cabinet, he took out two folded cloths. Unfolding the first one, he said, "A hair from a special monkey will make it an object that chooses." He carefully selected a hair from the cloth and slipped it into the weave on each piece. Using the second cloth, he said, "This boar's whisker will make sure you are never lost in the dark" and repeated his actions. Carefully refolding the cloths and putting them away, he walked over to Kim and plucked a single hair from her head.

"Ow! What is that going to do?" asked Kim rubbing her head.

"I have no idea, but I trust it will be something interesting," answered Sindri. Breaking it into four pieces, he inserted each piece into one of the woven strips. Moving to the forge, he worked the strips one at a time, heating them to a brightly glowing white, hammering each in a shower of sparks, and finally dropping the red hot piece into a pot of oil to cool.

Sindri bowed and handed the two shorter bracelets to Kim, saying formally "We would be pleased and honored if you and your partner wore these as tokens of friendship for each other and to us. I believe that they are unbreakable and indestructible. With the monkey hair in the weave and the quench in Meteor oil that I gave them, you should be able to command them like you can command Mjöllnir.

"Thank you very much," Kim replied taking the bracelets. "Ron will love having a gift made in your forges. I love that I was able to help a little in making it."

"We enjoyed your visit Kim Possible. Come, we will make sure you find the Bifrost," said Sindri.

Concentrating on the bracelets, they flew to her wrist, wrapping loosely around it with the two ends joining in making an invisible seam.

Soon the rainbow portal opened in front of her. As she waved and stepped through, she heard Brokk say, "Come again, and if you can, bring your partner."

Stepping out of the portal and walking down the Bifrost, Kim waved a greeting to Heimdallr who called out, "Lady Kim, I thought I would have to send out searchers. Thor and Loki staggered back drunk a day ago. Thor was going on about you telling him to switch to beer and asked me to look up a supplier for him," the pale god laughed, "Come, tell me of your adventures!"

* * *

**Credits**

All the Kim Possible characters belong to Disney.

My thanks to CajunBear73, Sentinel103, and daccu65 who have inspired me, provided plot hole detection, and performed valuable editing on parts of the original story.


	4. Freya, Sun Wukong and Eir

"Kjrr, do you see them pressing on the right?" Kim asked her sergeant. "Think we can pull off a nutcracker?"

Kjrr looked at the battle line and nodded. He was an older, grizzled warrior who had been willing to support her 'fancy, highborn, girlie idea of practice and drill.' The giants were pressing on a narrow path on the right. He had taught Kim the idea that allowing an opposing warrior to break through your line could work if you made it a trap. Especially in this environment where giants didn't fight shoulder to shoulder.

A warrior defending a battle line with sword/axe and shield was weak to the sides and strong in front because his shield could only protect one side. Usually, that meant that the warrior that broke through had the advantage because he could turn and attack the defender's weak side.

Kjrr told Kim that if the breakthrough was allowed with a few extra defenders behind the line, you could have people attacking the intruders from both sides. Especially with giants because they tended to move straight before turning.

"Thrasi! **Take ten men** and go to the right side. The giants are trying to break through. LET THEM ADVANCE ONE BOAT LENGTH AND HOLD THEM THERE! NUTCRACKER!" Kim shouted to one of her lieutenants. "Hrolf!" she shouted to a runner, "Go tell the people on the left to get ready to shift right to cut off the giants pressing through the line!"

The battle was a hot mess. Oh, her troops were fierce fighters but had little discipline…or common sense. They would much rather drink mead than do drills, but Kjrr had knocked a few heads together allowing Kim to get in a few exercise sessions with them. They were stopping an assault on Sessrumnir, Freya's hall in her small land of Folkvang. The terrain was Kim's best advantage in this battle, as she was trying to turn a narrow pass, maybe fifty yards wide into a defensible chokepoint.

Kim had been arguing strategy with Thor, futilely trying to convince him that there had to be smarter ways to fight than "run screaming to attack the nearest foe." Currently, Thor and Loki were off to the East with most of Freya's fighters stopping the main body of giants, she and about one hundred fighters were halting this end-around assault. It was a testament to the power of Thor's smile and his blue eyes that he was able to convince her to try out being a captain of troops for "only a couple of weeks." Now, here she was, standing on a twelve-foot-tall mini-watchtower, directing her troops instead of fighting herself.

When Kim got back to Midgard, she swore she was going to study small unit tactics. Her previous knowledge of tactics was mostly learned from watching Ron and Felix play Zombie Mayhem Bronze Age. An odd comparison, but zombies and most giants seemed similar to how they fought. She thought it strange that she had no fighters with bows or slings. Heck, for that matter, she would have expected some of the warriors to have firearms. She dragged herself back from woolgathering to watch her defenders.

Kim cheered with triumph when Thrasi and his **twenty-five** troops stopped well short of the line and let the giants push the defenders back to them. OK, maybe Thrasi wasn't the best at counting, but he did stop short and let the defenders in front of him fall back. The rest of Thrasi's warriors struck the giants from the side. Unable to block attacks from two directions with their shields, her troops crushed the giants that were trying to break through the line.

Her triumph was short lived when a pair of giant champions blew through the weakened left side of the line and started to rampage in her rear area. It was time to commit her reserve. As Thrasi had taken the fifteen warriors that Kim was saving for her reserve, she was now the reserve. Kim jumped from her little wooden watchtower and charged, leaving Kjrr muttering about idiot commanders while picking up his axe and shield.

* * *

Kim leaned back against a tree and munched on a slice of magic yellow apple. In the end, a single champion and a few surviving giants had withdrawn, and Kim almost failed to get her fighters to hold their line and not pursue them. They had held the pass and then she made sure that the Valkyries had taken care of her wounded and fallen. The pain in her abdomen was easing up a little bit. The apple was surely healing whatever their champion had damaged. However, something else was broken in her, and she knew what it was.

In what seemed a lifetime ago, she had killed a Lowardian to save Ron, and that action had almost destroyed her. Now in her role as "Lady Kim, the Hand that Holds the Hammer" she was a ruthless freak of death and destruction, and she thought it should bother her more. She held up Mjöllnir and spun it. Maybe the hammer was affecting her mind as well as her body.

Her forces today were fighters who had already fallen in battle at least once. She suspected that her fallen troops would appear back in the halls in the next day or two. She wondered if the Giants had their halls of the hallowed fallen. Was this just a pointless conflict where the fighters were recycled to fight over and over? Maybe Zombie Mayhem was the proper game to study…

"Lady Kim, are you well?" A tall, beautiful woman pulled up in a small chariot pulled by two house cats. Kim blinked, not lions, tigers, or panthers; they were two ordinary looking brown tabbies.

Kim stood, brushing the grass off her steel and leather skirt. "Well enough, thank you. I'm sorry, but have we met?"

"I am Freya. You defended my home. Thank you for that, my husband Odin is on a walkabout in some realm or other, or he would be here to thank you himself."

"You are welcome, goddess," answered Kim. The scuttlebutt among her troops was that Freya was the "party girl" of the gods and liked to thank her fighters "personally" when Odin wasn't around, and apparently, Odin wasn't home that often. She was also said to be a powerful sorceress second only to Odin in magic. Supposedly better than Heimdallr at prophecy. Odd that the fact that she used two house cats to pull her chariot never came up. Asgardians sometimes were strange in what they thought was reasonable.

"You don't look well, my lady, at the very least I believe your spirit is troubled, join me and we will go have tea and chat." Freya stepped back a little to give Kim room to step on the chariot in front of her. When Kim hesitated, she added, "Come, come, you are recovering from having just fought a battle and shouldn't have to walk to the hall. Smokey and Misty won't mind a bit."

Kim found herself riding Freya's chariot with Smokey and Misty quickly pulling them up the hill toward the great hall. Freya had one arm holding the reins and the other arm around Kim. Kim at first thought it was to steady her, the little chariot had no sides or handholds for her to hang onto, but the goddess's hand seemed to wander a bit…

The chariot stopped not at the magnificent great hall, but at a small cottage off to the side. Getting off the chariot, Freya reached down and unhitched the two cats who trotted off toward the great hall. The goddess ushered Kim into the little one-room cottage, guiding her in with her hand on Kim's back. Very low on Kim's back.

Freya bade Kim sit in a heavily cushioned chair while the Goddess walked over to a little sink and stove and started heating a pot of water for tea.

"Lady Kim, I fear that you are getting out of balance and that is troubling your spirit," Freya said, rummaging through small boxes in a cabinet.

"How so, goddess?" replied Kim. Kim's friendship bracelet felt warm, and there seemed to be a slight glow appearing in some of the gems in a beautiful necklace that Freya was wearing.

"Call me Freya, please. You are not normally a fighter on Midgard are you?" Frey sprinkled tea leaves into a golden teapot and added hot water.

"Not really, I mean, I have fought villains, but until this one time recently, never to the death," admitted Kim.

"I am a goddess of War, Sensual Love, and Fertility," Freya declared, "Half of the chosen dead come to my hall and the other half to Odin's Valhalla. I am involved in the death of harvest time and the new life of crops in spring. That gives me balance. Some of us like Thor can be all death and destruction, but I think simply having the potential to create new life causes your spirit and mine to become unbalanced if exposed to too much death and destruction and not enough sensual love."

"So, my problem is that I need to get laid?" Kim snarked. (a small amount of snark, she was talking to a goddess after all)

"No! Listen to yourself!" Freya poured tea into two cups and placed one on the little table in front of Kim's chair. She sat in a chair across from Kim. "Get laid! Really! You make it sound like you're a brick or a piece of tile!" Freya scoffed, "Where is the pleasure? The joy? The fun? The intimate and spiritual connection to another being?"

"Do you really get all those things every time?" asked Kim earnestly.

"Sometimes I make do with pleasure, fun, and joy. Sometimes a goddess has needs, you know. I could demonstrate how good three out of four can be if you like."

"Uh, no thank you, I'm not that needy at present." Kim found herself tempted a little, Freya was amazingly attractive.

"I have a twin brother if your needs run to something more masculine." Freya offered.

"No, I'm fine, really," Kim insisted, thinking, 'Whoa, a twin brother? Must be out modeling for romance novel covers or something.'

"Very well. I cannot think of any of my kin who do not possess a capacity for war and battle. Perhaps your spirit lacks that capacity. Maybe that is why you are so out of balance."

"Then how can I take the hammer into battle at all?" asked Kim.

"Part of nurturing is protecting. My son tells me that the first time you used Mjöllnir, you thought that you were protecting what you thought was a normal Midgardian. From actively defending a person you know from monsters to becoming a Battle Leader leading men into war to defend a land is an easy slope to go down."

"So, I'm doomed to be caught up in death and destruction with only taking breaks for dealing with my sensual needs?" Kim wondered aloud.

"If you don't like where the slippery slope has dumped you, find another mountain to live on. Asgard is a violent land. Perhaps you need to go home to Midgard." replied Freya.

'Go home,' Kim thought, 'I need to go home to Ron.'

"Kim, your little bracelet, do you know what it does?"

"It signifies friendship between myself, the dwarves who made it, and I have a fourth one to give to my lover back on Midgard," Kim answered.

Freya closed her eyes a moment. Opening them, she said, "It also blocks things that would influence or deceive you, things like magic."

"How do you know that?" Kim asked.

"I'm Freya, and it's my business to know things. That we are talking and drinking tea instead of helping each other take care of our sensual needs is another indication." She held up her necklace. "This has a magical attraction on several levels."

"It doesn't seem like you would need any magical help attracting lovers, if you ask me," pointed out Kim.

"Why thank you, dear heart. You are most kind to say that," Freya said then added with a slow smile, "Even if it is true."

"May I ask you for some advice?" asked Kim.

"Certainly. However, be careful about taking advice from Asgardians."

"Who should I give the hammer to?" asked Kim.

"Take it with you when you leave. Best to give it to someone, but not anyone from any of the nine realms." Freya replied.

"How do I get my balance back?" asked Kim.

"Give the hammer away and then have your Ronald Stoppable lay you like a piece of tile," smirked Freya. "Seriously Lady Kim, I know that Heimdallr has said that you don't appear in his prophecies. I am stronger than he is. I see many paths that lead to your getting your balance back and many paths that have you remaining unbalanced and becoming joyless. The path with Ronald in it has a lot of pleasure, fun, joy, and an intimate and spiritual connection that can return your balance. Also, some pain, sadness, and worry; all paths have that. That is the path I believe will work the best for you."

Freya looked thoughtful, "Kim, why are you here?"

"I don't understand the question," replied Kim.

"OK, let me be more specific. What were you doing at the pass earlier today?" asked Freya.

"Fighting the giants that were trying to slip through unnoticed," replied Kim.

"Why did you care if the Giants got through?" asked Freya.

Kim frowned, "Thor said they were attacking your great hall. I wanted to protect you and your people."

"Kim, in addition to taking care of half of the chosen fallen warriors, I also care for women who commit suicide. So, my people are made up of chosen dead warriors plus my Valkyries and the dead women who take care of them. I believe that you would say that giants attacking my great hall would be about as successful as a robber holding up a police station on Midgard."

"No other servants? Farmers?" Kim asked.

"My cats Smokey and Misty are the only truly living creatures here. Besides you and me of course. Farms are in the green lands of Hel."

Kim protested, "So why did Thor ask me to lead a small group of warriors to defend the pass?"

Freya sighed, "He sees this as practice for Ragnarok. I believe he is considering offering you a position here on Asgard. Try to ignore the death and destruction for a moment. Did you like leading warriors into battle?"

Kim thought for a moment. "Having people take my commands and fight successfully was exciting. I liked having their backs. However, I think the constant violence would wear me down," she admitted.

Freya asked, "Why haven't you gone home already?"

Kim replied, "Well, when I first got here, I was caught up in a battle and had to heal, then I went to Jotunheim thinking there was trouble there, and then Thor asked me to help defend your lands."

Freya pointed out, "You could have said 'no.'"

"It was nice to be needed, to be in someplace new and exciting. I guess I saw it as an adventure." Kim admitted.

Freya looked pleased. "So, my dear Lady Kim, what is your plan? Say the first thing that comes to mind. You can refine your plans daily if you wish."

"Go home to my Ron, have an adventure with him while he makes sure that I get laid like tile!" Kim laughed. Finishing her tea, she put the cup down. "Thank you for the tea and the advice, Freya. I need to talk to Heimdallr and see about getting home."

"I will walk you to the path," said Freya, "I need to go to the hall and interview for a new captain of guards."

"Oh, one last thought on your plan," said Freya opening the door, "Have you thought of an adventure that both you and your Ronald Stoppable would both enjoy?"

Kim pondered the question with a frown on her face as she walked out of the cottage. Did this time apart to 'discover themselves' mean that they might find that their ideas of adventure had become incompatible? Could Ron be growing apart from her? She decided that she needed to get back to him.

Stopping at the path, they said their goodbyes and Kim started walking down the road that led to Asgard. Freya looked at a raven watching from a tree branch. "Make yourself useful and go tell Eir that she needs to come and claim Lady Kim." As the bird flew away, Freya watched Kim crumple to the ground. Turning to the great hall, she pondered, "Egil or Cort for my new captain? Perhaps I could try them out as co-captains…"

* * *

Kim drowsed in her bed wrapped in golden sheets. She had received a severe butt-chewing by Eir on the need to get checked out by a 'Real Healer' and not to depend on magical apple slices. Eir said her spleen was shattered and took her hours to put it back together. Eir claimed that had it been Thor or Loki, she would have just had the dwarves make a replacement organ. She said, that since holding Mjöllnir caused such drastic changes to her body, that repairing her original organs seemed to be the safest.

Kim had drifted in, and out of sleep, forever it seemed. She would wake up, start to get up and then Eir would walk in, help her walk to the bathroom while complaining of 'idiot warriors,' then lead her back to her bed, touch her forehead, and Kim would be asleep again.

* * *

Mostly it was a sound, dreamless sleep. However, once she had a dream…

Strong fists pounded down on her shoulder armor, ensuring the pieces were set correctly in place.

"How's that?" asked the young Priest of Rama.

Kim did a cartwheel and a backflip. Feeling that everything stayed in place, she replied, "Much better. Thanks for helping me adjust my armor, Rob." Oops, what was his name? Rob? Roger? Ralph? Ron? That was it, Ron.

"Sorry, I meant Ron," she apologized.

"No problem, Lady Kim." the Priest grinned, "Usually people just say 'Necromancer' and then spit on the ground."

They had gotten up to find that their traveling companions, a pair of Zakarum Crusaders and a Sahptev Monk, had set off without them. They left a note explaining that for this last push against a Prime Evil, they would be more productive without having to watch over an 'Archer and her little Necromancer friend.'

Ron had looked hurt, and Kim looked angry. To be honest, these days she always looked angry. Coming home from a stint of service as a castle guard to find her village burned and her mother, father and two brothers slaughtered had given her a goodly supply of hatred.

Although most sane people would rather deal with an attractive young warrior woman than a Necromancer, in this case, the permanent glare on her face made Ron the best choice for dealing with the townsfolk. Checking with the innkeeper of the inn where they had all spent the night, Ron found that she had no idea which direction their missing companions had gone. She did, however, beg the two to hunt to the north for a group of demons that had been attacking farmers the last few days, repeating the tales she had heard from survivors that had fled to her inn looking for safety.

After collecting a few supplies for the trip, the two headed off to the north. Once out of the village, Lady Kim whistled, and a large, dirty-gray colored wolf trotted up, walking between the two. Drawing her sword, a medium length, curved blade with a lotus blossom engraved on it, she held it up and the gleaming steel split into pieces. Steel bolts appeared and flew into her crossbow and quiver as well as daggers that flew into sheaths on her belt.

Walking down the tree-lined road, they came across an old bridge crossing a small stream. On the other side, the travelers walked by to a cemetery. Ron paused and held out his hand. A half-dozen graves erupted, and skeletons carrying swords appeared and fell in behind them.

"Ron," Kim asked a question that she had wanted to ask him after their first battle, but it was too awkward when they were walking with holy warriors, "Have you ever raised a skeleton from someone you knew?"

There was a long pause. "My little sister," he softly replied, "I was going home to visit, and she snuck out to meet me on the road. She ran into a bandit raiding party. I don't know why they didn't hold her for ransom. I can't think of any reason for them to kill a young girl. I didn't take time to ask them, I killed them all, and she provided the first skeleton warrior."

"I'm sorry," said Kim, adding his grief to her vast supply of hatred and lust for vengeance.

Kim walked on, her head swiveling as she scanned for threats. She saw the wolf bump up against her companion's leg. With a grin, he reached down to give it a scratch behind its ears. He had told her that he became a Priest of Rama to help restore balance to the world. That there would always be both good and evil, but now evil was getting help from demons. Kim thought that keeping a balance sounded nice in abstract, but in reality, she couldn't stand by and allow the kind of evil that had so brutally destroyed her family to survive. She had told him that she was powered by hatred for sin, and that was true; even becoming Vengeance Incarnate for short periods. Ron had seen her do that, and she thought that scared him. Supposedly, few things scared a Priest of Rama. This Priest has several odd fears. For example, he was afraid of tiny spiders but oddly didn't blink an eye the time they cleared a cavern of spiders the size of ponies.

They continued walking north, the trail they followed now leading them past pastures and unharvested fields. Getting close to noon, the Priest insisted on a "snackage" break. When she started to protest about the delay, he retorted with a grin, "Hey, I can't restore balance on an empty stomach, and I bet that it's hard for you to keep that ball of hatred rolling when your stomach is growling."

They sat under a tree eating bread, cheese, and smoked sausage. The wolf could recognize a soft touch just as well as the evil dead. Watching the wolf staring with big, sad eyes at the Necromancer's food until he relented and gave the wolf some of his lunch, made her smile and pushed her hatred down to a quiescent level.

Her companion seemed like a nice person, slow to anger, quick to find humor in, well, pretty much anything. She wondered if there was another road that they could have taken, a path that didn't start with the death of those she loved. A way where they could have been friends and maybe even partners in life instead of partners in destruction.

No, she decided, she didn't pick this life any more than she could imagine her teammate with his child-like sense of wonder and joy picking to be a Priest of Rama. Evil had stolen their choices in life and set them both on this road. That thought brought her hatred bubbling back up. Taking a drink of water from her bottle she stood up, brushing off crumbs from lunch. Looking at the young man scratching the wolf's belly, she said, "Come on, let's be about it."

"Evil can wait another day, demon hunter," an oriental man had appeared out of nowhere. He was medium height, had a rusty blondish hair with a short beard that went up high on the side of his face. He leaned on a black staff, engraved with some lettering and had two gold bands on each end.

"Vengeance waits for no man or no monkey," she said, wondering why she said that last part. She had no reason to insult him, but somehow it seemed right. She felt a touch of vertigo, and when the world stopped moving, she found herself alone with the stranger in a forest at night, a full moon shining through the trees.

"Let the angels get off their butts and handle part of this mess that they created, For now, you should greet the moon and run with your mate," he said with a huge smile.

Having had enough of this stranger's monkeyshines, she reached for her dagger and promptly fell over; she had no hands or even arms!

Scrambling to her feet was easy; she had four of them. Turning to the stranger, she saw him holding a large mirror on the ground that came up past his knees. She looked in the mirror and saw a beautiful she-wolf with sparkling green eyes and covered in reddish fur changing to brown on her feet and tail.

"Stop admiring yourself," the stranger chided her, "and look at the moon."

Pulling her vision away from the magnificent looking wolf in the mirror, she looked up at the white, shining orb and felt her blood sing. Raising her head, she howled at the moon. Not a howl that declared territory, or a call to call her pack for a hunt, her lonely call echoing into the evening declared, "I know you're out there. I love you. I miss you. I need you."

The answering call came not from far in the distance, but from right beside her. A blond wolf with golden highlights in its fur looked at her with warm chocolate brown eyes. The wolf poked her with his nose and then shot out into the evening like a bolt from her crossbow.

Snorting a wolfish laugh, she waited for a few heartbeats (didn't want to catch him too quickly) and then raced after her love, her mate, her Ron.

Sun Wukong climbed a nearby tall tree to watch the pair race across the hills playing their version of wolf tag until they had run off their crazy. But not their passion and desires, they spent time working out their desires; they were a mated pair. The Monkey King watched until the couple, their passion finally spent, curled up together and fell asleep.

Watching over the pair until the glowing in the east announced the coming dawn, Sun softly said, "Sorry kids, but there will be other nights for just the two of you, I swear it." and dissolved their world.

* * *

Kim sobbed in despair as she slowly awoke to a naked aloneness, no fur, no Ron, just bare skin and golden sheets.

"KP? KP? Wake up Honey; you're having a nightmare."

Kim struggled to full consciousness. She was drenched in sweat and opened her eyes to see Ron holding her shoulders looking concerned. Kim blinked her eyes. No, it wasn't Ron, it was Loki!? She rubbed her wrist; her friendship bracelet had gotten uncomfortably warm.

"Loki, what are you doing here? Is there an emergency I need to help with?" Kim mumbled, not fully awake yet.

"But it's me, Ro…" Loki started to say something but then smoothly changed topics, "I was walking by on the way to the dining hall, and I heard you crying out in your sleep. I just came in to check on you and see if I could offer assistance or comfort."

"Thanks, but I'm OK, it was just a dream," Kim replied.

"Maybe I could help take your mind off the nightmare…" Loki smoothly began.

"Loki, leave Lady Kim alone," Eir, walking into the room, interrupted, "I just spent hours putting her insides back together, you mess that up by poking her before she is fully healed and I will rearrange your insides. With a dull spoon."

"Very well, Eir. Call out if you need anything, Lady Kim," offered Loki, "If I am in the great hall, I will hear you." Loki patted her shoulder and left the room slightly annoyed that this didn't go as planned.

"Did I hear Loki say you had a dream?" asked Eir.

"Yeah, he said I was screaming, but I don't remember screaming in the dream," replied Kim.

"Let me help you to the bathroom, and you can tell me about it afterward," said Eir. After helping Kim walk to the bathroom to relieve herself, sponge off the sweat from her skin and slip on a fresh nightshirt, Eir brought Kim back to her bed. Standing by the bed was a woman that she didn't recognize.

"Eir, I put fresh sheets on her bed," said the woman, "Lady Kim, my name is Sigyn, Loki is my husband. I decided I should drop in and say hello."

"Lady Sigyn," replied Kim, "Pleased to meet you, but you just missed Loki. He said he heard me crying out in a dream and came in to see if I needed help."

"Call me Sigyn, child. Also, yes, that sounds like my ever-helpful Loki," Sigyn replied, "Did I mention that he was my husband?"

"Yes, my lady, you did," replied Kim missing the fire in Sigyn's eyes because she was looking at the goblet of cold water that Eir was handing her.

"Tell us about your dream," Eir wisely changed the subject. "Sometimes they are more than just the mind making up stories."

Kim told the two about her dream

The two women were excellent listeners, only interrupting occasionally:

Q: "Do you often forget your boyfriend's name?"  
A: "No, people who don't know him well sometimes get his name confused, but I don't. The scary part was that I was so focused on Vengeance that I didn't care enough about him to remember his name."

Q: "Where is the Lotus Blade now?"  
A: "I think my sister has it."

Q: "Did your boyfriend lose his sister in real life?"  
A: "No, as far as I know, she is fine."

Q: "Did you recognize the innkeeper?"  
A: "No."

Q: "Did you recognize the man in the forest?"  
A: "No, but I think he knew me."

Q: "Are you sure the wolf was your Ron? Wolves probably all look alike in the dark."

A: "Yes, I'm positive that was Ron. It was a full moon plus I had wolf night vision."

When Kim finished, they asked one final question: "What do you think the dream is trying to tell you?"

There was a pause, and Sigyn was sure that Kim had fallen asleep when Kim mumbled, "I think it is telling me that if I am not careful, I will lose everything. That Ron loves me no matter what and is my true mate. I mustn't waste that precious gift."

Eir bent over her patient saying, "Sleep now, my Lady." and touching Kim on her forehead sent her back to sleep.

"Well," asked Eir, "What does all this mean?"

"My husband cheated on me with this hussy!" hissed Sigyn, "and if she hasn't already, she soon will!"

"Maybe, maybe not," replied Eir, "give me your hand." She took the goddess's hand and placed it on Kim's lower abdomen.

Sigyn looked at Eir, "Did you make a mistake? Are you positive she wasn't pregnant when she was brought in?"

"Positive, I swear that she wasn't pregnant when I was repairing her spleen. I wouldn't have made that rookie of a mistake. Besides, given the number of yellow apples, she's been eating since she arrived, there's no way she could have gotten pregnant without serious help."

"Like some help from my husband?!" the wife of Loki snarled.

"I don't think that he has that power. I intend to keep Lady Kim here for another week; it appears that the only way she will take time to heal is if I force her to sleep all the time. Can you find out what happened? Is your prophecy dreaming strong enough?" the healer asked.

"Not sure," admitted Sigyn. "I will go talk to Freya, and if she doesn't have an answer, I'll go find Verdandi and Skuld [2]. We need to get her back to Midgard and far away from my Loki! Let Midgard deal with her!"

**Early in the day, twelve days later.**

Not quite awake, Kim gave an experimental wiggle of her body and found that everything moved without pain.

She decided that as soon as Eir released her, she was going to say her goodbyes and go home to Ron. Smiling, she remembered Freya's advice and was going to have Ron 'lay her like tile'. She was going to trust in the contraceptive qualities of the magic apples, and if they failed, then that was OK also. She was so sick of battle, death, and destruction that right now, an eighteen-year-long break from it sounded more than acceptable.

"How are we feeling this morning?" a bright and cheery Eir was at her side.

"Just fine," the redhead answered, "Seems like I've been in bed sleeping for weeks. Can I get up today?"

Eir gave her a thorough examination. Lady Kim's unborn became medically distressed three days into her forced sleep, and Eir was only able to save two of them, and that required taking Kim to Mjollner and wrapping her hand around the handle to trigger the change in her body. That change strengthened her body and stabilized her two remaining unborn. Eir removed the three dead and cremated them on a private funeral pyre.

Miraculously, besides her and Sigyn, the fact of her pregnancy was known only to a few. The general population living in Asgard took no notice of yet another Valkyrie toting around an unconscious body. Kjrr knew because Eir had to take her to Sessrumnir because that was where her hammer had fallen when she collapsed. The grizzled old sergeant was worried about his young captain and demanded the Eir talk to him when he spotted them. Freya knew, well because she was Freya. Heimdallr knew because the old busy-body had made it his business to watch over Kim whenever he could. Heimdallr had personally built the funeral pyre in a secluded spot; he and Kjrr had wept and sobbed at the loss of Lady Kim's potential offspring. Verdandi and Skuld undoubtedly knew, but they tended to stay out of the business of mortals.

Holding her patient's face in her hands, looking into her eyes and feeling the lymph nodes under her jaw, the healer wondered just when she should talk to the young redhead about her 'condition' and what her reaction would be. Freya was unsurprised, of course, but seemed ambivalent. Heimdallr considered the young Midgardian a favorite niece; he was pleased. Kjrr surprisingly was ecstatic to find out about his captain's condition, muttering something about how this might prevent her from rushing headlong into battle. Sigyn had pushed hard for Eir to terminate all the unborn, declaring that no god had the right to force any woman to bear a child. Eir decide to talk to Lady Kim tomorrow about her condition and options tomorrow, to let her mind recover from the effects of the long forced sleep.

Eir eventually declared the Midgardian as "mostly healed" and cleared for "light duty, and **no fighting.**" Eir told her charge in no uncertain terms that she was to return to sleep in the infirmary; then turned her loose. Kim wandered down a hallway towards the dining hall, suddenly feeling ravenously hungry. She had a massive lust for a stack of roasted meat and a pile of fried root vegetables of all things. Turning the corner, she heard…

"Lady Kim! Good to see you up and about."

"Hi Loki, Hi Thor, I'm feeling much better, just hungry."

"Join us for breakfast."

1) Kim's dream is inspired by Blizzard's Diablo 3 with the new Necromancer Expansion.

2) The Norns of the _Ah! My Goddess_ anime are pretty straightforward. Urd is concerned with the past, Belldandy (Verdandi) is concerned with the present and Skuld is concerned with the future. Sort of. In reading Norse and Germanic references on the Norns and Yggdrasil, things get pretty strange when the concept of cyclical time turns them from corresponding to the past, present, and future to the past, present, and "necessity." Let's stick with the anime version as cyclical time seems to mess with my concept of destiny and prophecy. Google "YGGDRASIL AND THE WELL OF URD" and look for a page from "norse-mythology DOT org " if you want to see what I am referring to.

**Credits**

All the Kim Possible characters belong to Disney.

My thanks to CajunBear73, Sentinel103, and daccu65 who have inspired me, provided plot hole detection, and performed valuable editing on parts of the original story.

All the Kim Possible characters belong to Disney.

My thanks to CajunBear73, Sentinel103, and daccu65 who have inspired me, provided plot hole detection, and performed valuable editing on parts of the original story.

**Fun Fact:** The grey wolf has a gestation period of 63 days, and litters of 3-5 pups are common.


End file.
